We just got a snail friend for our Betta, Ariel and it's making Ariel's tank really hazy.. i thought they cleaned it?
(Back story.. Ariel was in a one gallon when we 1st brought her home and petsmart put the entire thing together. It stayed clean quite a while. Then we got her a bigger home a few days later.)
It hasn't even been a week and the 1.5 gallon tank is hazy due to uneaten food, so we thought to get a snail friend. I think I'm gonna just completely clean the tank and all the fun stuff and see if things improve.. i just want nice, clean, pretty water to match my pretty fish.

It hasn't even been a week and the 1.5 gallon tank is hazy due to uneaten food, so we thought to get a snail friend.

^ Snails produce BULK ammonia (pee and poo). More than the fish, probably. So add that to overfeeding and not changing water often enough in a small tank, and -- you're going to have a very sick fish, sooner or later.

I'd rehome/return the snail and simply stop feeding too much and change your water 1x 50% per week, PLUS 1 x 100% per week. Like, Wednesdays and Sundays. Bettas do not need friends, but they do need very clean water.

Quote:

I think I'm gonna just completely clean the tank and all the fun stuff and see if things improve..

Good idea.

Have a think about switching him to good quality pellets. Much easier not to overfeed/end uo with food waste. Plus the good brands will make his colours pop.

So just did a complete water change and cleaned everything also put the snail in the betta's original home that we took him home in. As soon as we put Ariel back into his home, he started searching everywhere to make sure the snail was gone. He is SO much happier now. He even did a silly little tail wiggle dance for us as if to say, "I don't have to sh-are, i don't have to sh-are, oh yeah, i don't have to share". The snail is still hiding.. i don't blame him he has been picked on and bit since yesterday.
The snail was such a bad idea..

But what will you do with the snail? You could always get a nice 1 gallon jar or bowl and put some sand in and plant it.. some java fern, moss, a nice cryptocorene.. and have a cute little snaily bowl. Aokashi has made some very nice ones, as has Mo. Or you could google 'shrimp bowls' for ideas..

The snail is in his own 3/4 gallon "fish" bowl. I don't really know what we're gonna do with it yet. We got him to help clean Ariel's tank but he made it 4x worse overnight. My husband wants to take it back to petsmart and see if they'll take him back. I don't really want to keep him... and have to worry about keeping his water clean. I'd have to do complete water changes every other day.. but there's no way i could "put him in the river" <- that was what my husband wanted to do. We live in wisconsin, the rivers are super cold. The poor thing would die.

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the Betta Fish and Betta Fish Care forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

OR

Log-in

User Name

Password

Remember Me?

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.